Once Upon a Dream
by Melodic Ascent
Summary: After Lance discovers that his connection to Allura is more literal than everyone initially thought, she gives Pidge some advice through him that may lead her to finally realize feelings she's kept buried for years. A post-canon Kidge fanfic


**So, the series is over. I have to say, season 8 was great. But OWWWWW. I'm still a little tender from having my feelings beat to a pulp.**

 **Anyway, I just want to make one thing clear: I'm going to finish Full Dive. I'm also going to continue with other Kidge plans I've had. That being said, I do plan to branch out a bit. I want to delve into Kingdom Hearts a bit (I'm a very big Rokushi shipper) as well as potentially She-Ra and Dragon Prince.**

 **I know you guys want the next chapter of Full Dive, but I wanted to get this out while the wounds from season 8 were still fresh. It's just a one-shot, don't worry. I just wanted to write a bit of a post-series Kidge thing.**

 **In case I didn't make it clear. SEASON 8 SPOILERS AHEAD, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT.**

Losing somebody close to you is difficult. Anybody would have some sort of pain and trauma, especially when the person you lose is the person you love the most.

However, that wasn't the case for Lance.

Pidge was shocked when he told her the news.

"I can see her, Pidge. Every night."

She raised an eyebrow. "Not to be a Debbie Downer, but are you sure you aren't just dreaming?"

He nodded, his face serious. "Trust me, I know the difference. We talk, we laugh, we…we're connected. I think it has something to do with that last gift she gave me." His hands subconsciously drifted to the blue markings on his face.

"I'll always be with you…huh…" Pidge drifted off into thought. "I wonder if she was a bit more literal with that than people usually are."

"Huh?"

"Well, normally when somebody said 'I'll always be with you' they mean that they'll be in your heart and your memories rather than actually physically being—"

"Just get to the point!"

"Lance, I wonder if Allura is actually with you. Like, she left a part of herself with you, or at the very least connected the two of you. This is only a theory, but it makes sense. We've seen Altean Alchemy do incredible things. Is it so strange for Allura to forge some kind of connection between you?"

Lance looked a bit dejected. "If that's the case, then why can I only see her when I'm asleep?"

"I think that might have something to do with the fact that she no longer possesses a physical body, so she can only appear to you in a non-physical manner. Plus, it seems she can only appear for you. I don't think anyone else has mentioned seeing Allura in their dreams, at least not in a way that involves actual interaction."

"Oh, that reminds me of why I came to you in the first place. She has a message for you."

Pidge raised an eyebrow. What could Allura have possibly wanted to say to her specifically?

"She said, 'a dream is a wish your heart makes.' I have no idea what she means by it, but I figure you'll know what to do. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Coran. Allura was…upset, to say the least, that she couldn't say goodbye. See ya later, Pidge."

"'A dream is a wish your heart makes.' What in the world did she mean by that?" Pidge muttered to herself. The words were getting to her, making it hard for her to concentrate on anything.

She snapped out of her reverie as Matt placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you okay Pidge? You haven't typed a single line of code since we got here."

"How do you interpret a message given to you by a dead space princess through the dream of one of your best friends?"

Matt blinked, then bent over and picked her up. "Okay, time for bed. You're definitely too tired to be working on this."

"Matt, I'm serious! Now put me down!"

"Nope. Mom wanted me to make sure you were getting to bed at a reasonable time, a promise that I have yet to actually uphold." He carried her all the way to her room. In the past, she could have wiggled out of his hold with ease; however, given the extra three years he had in the war, he was now significantly stronger than she was.

Soon enough, Matt tossed her onto her bed. "Now go to sleep!"

Pidge blinked a few times, dumbfounded. Was what she'd said really that concerning? Or maybe Matt had talked to Lance about something? She shrugged. She was here. She might as well try to get some sleep.

Keith was leaning on the back of Pidge's chair, looking over her shoulder as she worked. However, he wasn't looking at the screen; all of his attention was on her. She knew it too. Occasionally she'd brush some hair behind her ear or turn and make a face at him.

His hand moved from the chair to her shoulder, then to her head as he ran his fingers through her hair. She stopped typing and turned to look at him, a smirk on her face. She stood up and wrapped her arms around him, lacing her fingers together behind his neck.

She always loved it when he wore his hair in a ponytail. It may have been initially odd that his hair was longer than hers, but she didn't mind it anymore. There was a passionate fire in his violet eyes. His lips curled into a smile. Her gaze lingered on his lips.

They closed the distance between them and kissed passionately, as though it were something they'd done every day for months.

Pidge sat upright, gasping. She was drenched in sweat. She looked around. Her room was just as dark as Matt had left it. Suddenly, the images from her dream came flooding back.

"'A dream is a wish your heart makes'…oh no. Oh freak no. Freak freak freak freak." She turned on the lights and ran into her bathroom, looking at her face in the mirror. She slowed her breathing, letting her heart rate stabilize. Then she closed her eyes and pictured Keith's face. His eyes, his hair, his lips…

She felt her heart rate pick up again. Opening her eyes, her face was bright pink.

Then it was pale.

"Oh crap."

Looking back, she figured out exactly when her little crush started. After Keith and Krolia returned from the Quantum Abyss with Romelle, Keith had looked like he'd been through hell with a hair stylist. He looked like a hardened soldier with the most beautiful hair Pidge had ever seen. But that wasn't really what caught her attention. No, it was how he took charge. How he was ready to give everything not only for Shiro, but for the team and for the universe.

How he showed he really did care about everyone.

The next time she saw him was after his fight with the clone Shiro. He had a strange scar on his face, and Pidge found herself staring at it every chance she got, making sure to look away before she was caught.

He stepped up and took charge. He led the team where Shiro couldn't. Sure, there were slip-ups along the way, but they all finally made it home.

Keith's days of being distant and closed-off were gone. Pidge figured that spending so much time with his mother had brought out a better side of him, one that could more openly show he cared about the people around him, one that was more willing to lead, one that was determined to save everyone he could.

And Pidge adored every bit of it.

Ever since they'd defeated Honerva, Pidge hadn't seen Keith very often. He was usually off trying to fix the Galra empire and get things back in order. Yeah, Pidge missed him a lot, but she'd initially brushed it off as feeling that same pain and loss he'd left her with when he left the team for the Blade of Marmora.

But, no, this was different. There wasn't nearly as much hurt this time around, and more a sense of longing. She simply wished she could be with him, rather than wishing he'd never left in the first place.

She slammed her face onto the table for the fifth time. Hunk patted her back and slid a plate of cookies in front of her. He'd been sent to Earth to see his family and take a vacation as a reward for the hard work he'd put into being a diplomat.

"So…you gonna tell me what's got you so upset before you either make your head bleed or break the table?"

She groaned, shoving a cookie in her mouth. Hunk slid her a glass a milk, which she gratefully drank before wiping her mouth. "I have a crush on Keith."

Hunk doubled over laughing, nearly dropping the next plate of cookies in the process. "It's about time you figured it out!" Gales of hearty laughter rang through the kitchen.

Pidge looked at him in disbelief. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's been so obvious! You stare at his face every chance you get, and if he's facing away from you, you start to stare at his—"

Pidge threw a handful of cookies at him, her face turning pink. "H-how long have you known? Who else knows?"

"Well Keith certainly doesn't if that's what your asking," Hunk said as he skillfully caught the thrown cookies on his plate. "He's about as oblivious to love as possible."

Pidge sighed in relief. At least that was a plus.

"I don't get it. Wouldn't it be good if he knew?"

She shook her head frantically. "No! It'd be a disaster! He can never find out!"

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "Pidge, if you don't say something to him eventually, these feelings are gonna haunt you forever…" His voice trailed off, realization dawning on him. "Wait. This is your first crush, isn't it?"

When Pidge said nothing, Hunk pulled out his phone. "That's it, we're gonna need reinforcements."

"What the heck, Hunk?! I told you this secret in total confidence!"

"Don't worry, the two people I'm contacting are already well aware of your feelings too. And to top it all off, they've both got relationship experience. Trust me, you'll be happy to have them here."

Pidge hid her face in her hands as Hunk, Lance, and Shiro sat across from her, talking quietly amongst themselves. Evidently Hunk was filling them in on the exact details of the situation.

Finally, Lance turned around, a sinister grin on his face. "Pidge, you just need to walk up to him and say," Lance pitched his voice higher. "'Oh Keith, I'm in love with you and I want to be with you for eternity.'"

Shiro elbowed Lance, but that didn't stop him from letting out a chuckle.

Pidge was frantically shaking her head. "No chance. No way. I won't say 'I'm in love.' That's so cheesy."

Hunk nodded. "Pidge is right. What we need to do is come up with a way for her to talk to him that best works for the both of them. I don't think Keith would take too kindly to her being so forward."

"On the other hand," Shiro pointed out, "She needs to be clear in her intentions, so Keith can understand what she's trying to say. Otherwise it'll just go right over his head."

Lance nodded, resting his chin on his hand. Then he snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"

Pidge was scared the outfit they picked wouldn't really match her personality, but was pleasantly surprised when she found they'd chosen a nice teal blouse and dark skinny jeans. She wore a new pair of black converse, courtesy of her mother. Lance had talked her out of wearing her Smart Glasses.

She slouched in her seat. She definitely wasn't looking forward to this.

They'd gone over everything she needed to say and do, with constant reminders to stay calm and just let her feelings flow. That didn't ease her nerves though.

Lance had asked to fly the shuttle himself, insisting that Pidge would need the emotional support and that flying a shuttle while stressed was never good. Despite Pidge's protests that she would be fine on her own, Lance finally won out with the reasoning that she'd need a specially designed cockpit to meet her body type; she couldn't fly a normal shuttle without making adjustments to it first.

Shiro had asked Keith to pay a visit to Altea, claiming that Pidge had important information to give to him regarding a splinter cell in the Galra empire (which, of course, was completely made up).

Pidge found Keith in the Allura statue courtyard. He was looking up at the looming figure above him, his expression unreadable. As Pidge approached, he turned to face her. "Hey, Pidge. Shiro told me you have sensitive information to share?"

"Sensitive is an understatement," she muttered under her breath. Louder, she said "how about we take a walk? We can talk in the juniberry fields."

"An area where we can see if there are any hostiles within hearing distance. Good thinking."

Pidge rolled her eyes. Everything was always business with him.

They found themselves on a well-walked path through the fields. Pidge had to force herself to look away from him, trying not to get distracted by the way his hair billowed in the wind. In her dream she'd mentioned she like it in a ponytail but seeing the way it flowed when it was loose was equally appealing. And horribly distracting.

Finally, Pidge cleared her throat. "So, uh, about the, uh…"

"The splinter cell?"

Pidge almost laughed. He was dead serious. He had no idea what she was about to dump on him.

"You may want to sit down," she said, stepping off of the path and sitting cross-legged among the flowers.

Keith looked at her curiously before following. "That bad, huh?"

He wasn't going to make this easy, was he?

She took a deep breath, remembering what she'd been told to say. "Okay, so quick confession, there's not actually a splinter cell. That was made up just to get you here."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "You mean Shiro lied to me just so you and I could talk?" Pidge didn't know if she was imagining it or not, but his cheeks seemed dusted with the slightest hint of red. He muttered something she couldn't hear.

"The most important thing is to let your feelings flow," she repeated to herself. She took a deep breath.

"Keith, I…I like you, okay? And not in a 'we're friends and I enjoy your company.' I mean that I'm romantically interested in you. No, no wait, that doesn't sound quite right. I-I…y-you fight good…wait no, I mean…I mean…" she threw her hands up in exasperation. "Augh! Why is it so hard to say that I love you?"

Keith almost fell over at her clumsy declaration. That had certainly gotten her message across.

Her face went pale and she clapped her hands over her mouth. When she finally allowed herself to speak again, she yelled out "Crap! I'm sorry! I wasn't going to say it like that but it just came out and Lance made me all stressed about it and Shiro and Hunk tried to reassure me that it was going to work out and to stay calm and—"

Keith cut her off with a kiss.

It wasn't long or passionate like the one from her dream. There was no feeling of experience. It was short and clumsy. But it was a kiss nonetheless.

And it told Pidge so much more than words ever could.

 **Okay, so one of two things is going to happen. After Christmas, my family is going on a family reunion. I'll be bringing my laptop with me so I can write as a method to ease the stress caused by certain members of my extended family. One: I'll have plenty of time to write and will come back with new content to publish. Or two: I won't have any time to write and won't accomplish anything. I don't think there'll be much of an in-between.**

 **Props to you if you can spot all of the Disney references. I'll give two hints. One: There are five total. Two: One of them is a canon line in the show (and probably wasn't intended as a Disney reference but I'm a geek so everything's a reference).**

 **See ya next time!**


End file.
